The Walt Disney Company earned $733 million, up 12 percent over the $657 million in the same quarter last year. (It’s Disney’s FYQ2.) Diluted earnings of 37 cents per share were up 19 percent, also beating the Thomson First Call estimates of a repeat of last year’s 31 cents per diluted share. Revenues of $8.03 billion were 3 percent higher that last year but slightly lower than the $8.18 billion analysts estimated. (The Thomson numbers are from MKTW.)
— ESPN continues to shine, driving much of the cable networks’ 5 percent operating income growth aided by higher affiliate fees built into contracts. Revenue deferrals, the Mobile ESPN investment and increased programming offset some of the network’s gains.
— Broadcasting operating income rose an impressive $122 million to $160 million for the quarter; again, gains were offset partially by investments, this time in “new initiatives at the Internet Group.”
— Disney still expects about $500 million in internet revenue this fiscal year based on advertising and paid content; including online sales of theme park packages would boost the amount past $1 billion, CFO Thomas Staggs said during the earnings webcast. More from that in a bit. Earnings release
Related: Earnings: Iger: DIS Exploring P2P Distribution; Streaming “Not An Experiment”